


Neurocortex Gothic

by Sparrow_Synopia



Category: Spider-Man (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Derealization, Disassociation, Existential Angst, Gen, Living Brain, POV Second Person, Panic Attacks, Short, Superior Spider-Man - Freeform, Surreal, Surreal horror, i don't know how to tag this help, more or less, this was really fun to write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:53:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24103960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sparrow_Synopia/pseuds/Sparrow_Synopia
Summary: Being trapped in the Neurocortex is, as Otto put it in the comics, an existential nightmare.I was inspired by those regional gothic posts on tumblr to make this.  I just really like the writing style, and the vibes are immaculate.
Kudos: 6





	1. Fake

You feel your hands. They are solid. You look down at them. You look closer. They shift. They blink in and out. So does the rest of your body. It exists only to you.

You take a deep breath. You feel nothing. There is no air to breath. Did you even take a breath? Or did you just imagine you did?

It is so quiet. There is nothing around to make noise. The silence is endless. The silence is oppressive. The silence is deafening. You cover your ears. It doesn’t help. There is no sound to block out.

You feel the tears run down your face. Warm and wet. You can’t make them stop. You try to wipe them away. You can’t. Your face is dry.

You long for food. You don’t need it, you’re not hungry, nor have you been hungry in a while. But you remember the feeling of hunger. Biting and aching and painfully real. Maybe if you ate you would feel real again.

You don’t feel pain anymore. You used to. But you thought about it. You thought about it too much. None of it was real, you know that now. You just thought you should feel it, so you did. And now you can’t. You beat on the walls, throw yourself from heights, scream until your throat should be dry and cracked and burning. But you’ve had too much time to think and now you can’t go back. The tricks don’t work anymore. You don’t feel anything.

You try sleeping. You don’t know how long you sleep, there is no way to tell the passage of time. Your dreams are memories of the past, played before you in vivid detail. You stop sleeping. The memories are too much, and you never feel rested anyway. You lose the last thing that made you real. You have lost everything.


	2. Real

What is your name?

Where do you live?

How old are you?

Where do you work?

Where are you right now?

Is your heart beating?

Is your skin warm?

Can you feel my hand?

You can.

You can feel everything.

You are here.

You are present.

You are alive.

You are real.

You are okay.

For the first time in your life, you are okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Capturing Otto's experience in the Neurocortex has been on my to-do list, and I think this writing style does it well. The existential dread that comes from nothing really being real, just a simulation in a machine and in your own head. *chefs kiss* s p e c t a c u l a r
> 
> I don't know how to describe it but that limbo is just something I really wanted to explore, because they don't in the show. Anyway, hope you liked it, even though it was short.


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